Corporate record

Wal-Mart has just attained a dubious distinction: one of the ten worst corporations of 2001, according to Multinational Monitor. This was not an easy achievement for Wal-Mart. The corporation faced stiff competition from scores of multi-nationals, including co-honorees Coca-Cola "for alleged complicity with death squads in Colombia," and ExxonMobil "for leading the global warming denial campaign."

But Multinational Monitor said Wal-Mart earned its infamy "for continuing to source products from overseas sweatshops, for viciously battling efforts to unionize any faction of its workforce (the largest in the United States, among private employers), and for contributing to the sprawl that blights the U.S. landscape."